User Reviews

Looks the similar black color of regular BCS, the fruit in this one doesn't make an appearance impact because the SRM is so dark to start with. Aroma still hits with plenty of deeply roasted malt, bourbon, oak, but this one starts to diverge from regular BCS because there is a sweetness in the nose unlike the reg.

There is a trade off with the berries, they obscure some of the bourbon character, imparting juicy sweetness that cuts through the alcohol heat and depth of the bourbon. Carbonation was up on this one, but that's better than too low, especially seeing how much of a sipper this is.

A little bit different compared to most others, definitely better than the cherry rye one.

T: "Like it's been soaked in the wood of a charred, burnt-down house," says my dad. "Filtered through a cowboy's boot." Immediate sweet, juicy, berry fruit up front, but not obnoxious, hurt-your-teeth sugar-sweet like Dark Lord. Juicy and jammy. Roasty, toasty finish. It's tart, rather than the usual bourbon cake flavor of most BCS. At a certain point, it kind of tastes like straight grape juice. I should have paired it with a savory sausage, or "tubular meat" as my dad says. Hardly any bourbon heat at all.

O: Better than the Backyard Rye from 2013, but I find that both of these fruity variants are not my favorite. The 2015 Regal Rye fairs better with the candied cherries - maybe because they aren't as juicy? The juiciness could've been toned down some for me. Still very good and evocative, as I always have a lot of thoughts/memories when drinking BCS variants.

Vibrant, lush fresh raspberry jam/puree, dark fudge chocolate, and the familiar bourbon county oak and whiskey flavors take a backseat to the fruity headliner. Really is a raspberry fudge cake in beer form - true desert sipper. Not sure how they managed to get so much raspberry flavor to begin with, and how the raspberry has remained so vibrant is beyond me. Preferred this to Backyard, really impressive variant.

Looks black with a purple tinge. Smells of sour raspberry, blackberry and slight whiskey backend. Taste is HUGE raspberry and blackberry with some spiciness and chocolate in the end. Feel is of wonderful lingering raspberry that lasts. Overall wow! Very suprised by the fruit influence. Amazing.

Initially the nose is a bit off putting but the taste is very different. Chocolate and raspberry are prominent. Creamy feel and the alcohol is hidden well. Would have to say I prefer backyard slightly, but both are world class.

Has pungent aromas of slightly sour, fermented fruits, with matured raspberries being the most present for me. The prominent fruitiness gets joined by wooden bakers chocolate, fudge and toffee, topped off by sticky fruit syrup. The syrupy aspect invites a decent barrel oakiness to the palate, together with slightly sweetened cocoa and a rich Bourbon note, revealing dried blackberries.

Begins with earthy malts, slightly bitter coffee, chocolate and dried fruits, which got a fermented acidity to them, creating an unusual sour note, which blends perfectly into the coffee. This gets coated up by syrup and toffee, highlighting noble, ripe wild berries, while blackberries turn out more present then they did on the nose. On this sweet fruit impression settles a pungent, wooden, hot Bourbon bite, highlighting the berries even more, by creating a liqueur impression. While bakers chocolate and wooden malts still provide a convincing balance, the beer is certainly on the sweeter side, with warming marmelade and syrupy molasses among a wooden vanilla dryness. The prominent berries prevail till the end, with sugared lemon peel being added to the mix, while the bourbon leaves a sharp bite on the tongue, which turns out to be slightly tooth numbing, with chocolate malts and a whiff of syrup adding a recognizable sweetness to the slightly wooden dry finish.

I do love me some berries. It goes without saying that I thoroughly enjoyed this beer. While the beer has been aged I still found that the flavors have held up extremely well and the expected fruit juice flavors had evolved into the pulp/seed flavors without the corresponding tartness that you might get while enjoying the real fruit. While I understand that this beer might not have the same sexiness as the other varieties. I certainly enjoyed it and wouldn't wait to acquire/consume it.

Excellent beer. My favorite of all BC varieties to date. Great jammy berry flavor that is surprisingly strong for how old this beer is. Compliments the rich chocolate and vanilla flavors from the base beer. Smooth as can be. Age has treated this one well. Drank side by side with a Backyard, which had a more potent berry profile, but Bramble was more balanced.

The nose, boose heavy, dried fruit, bit of sweetness, and a little stout.

Tastes... Balanced with barrel characteristics. Light fruity notes delightful smell and taste. Fruits have fallen off a bit. Past its prime for the fruits. Very boose forward and over powering. Still very drinkable.

Pours like an oil slick, black as can be, with no head, lacing, or visual carbonation.

Smells like fresh raspberry puree and juice, even after 3 years, amazingly, with the typical big bourbon, chocolate and marshmallows of the many variants of the series.

This one doesn't quite taste as thick as some of the other Bourbon County variants, but it's still like drinking bourbon fudge- this time, covered heavily in raspberry jam. The raspberry and blackberry flavor is still incredibly strong, and verges on cloying territory- the aftertaste of this one is entirely raspberry juice, with a twinge of cough syrup. The aftertaste is what keeps this from being a perfect variant. There is clearly an inordinate amount of berries added to this beer. Chocolate covered raspberries all the way.

The mouthfeel on this one is great- thick, syrupy, and fudgey, with a lower amount of carbonation, and a huge body.

Not the best variant, in the same way that George is not one of the best Beatles. Still amazing, no matter what.

I was lucky enough to attend a Bourbon County bottle share last night where we had every variant present.

Holy Raspberries...still so strong and fresh smelling...this beer is basically a chocolate raspberry flavored desert! I definitely preferred this to backyard which was more of a mixed berry taste. (again nit picking here) Both are amazing but if you have a chance to try bramble I definitely recommend it!
Chocolate
Raspberry
Bomb!

Appearance: It looks like Bourbon County. I'm shocked. It's thick black motor oil, has a thin eggshell crown and no lacing. Just like all the other Bourbon County beers.

Smell: Lots of fruit in the nose. Lots of raspberry specifically. Somewhat boozy, none of the chocolate I typically get in the nose of BCBS beers.

Taste: Wow, that's a lot of raspberry. I love raspberry. Chocolate comes through beneath it, but the raspberries are strong in this one. This is delicious. Because I love raspberry. Did I mention this is my eighth 4oz pour tonight? This is my eighth 4oz pour tonight. Raspberries are awesome.

Mouthfeel: Significantly thinner than the other Bourbon County beers. No worries though, it's still delicious. I love raspberries. Carbonation is somewhat higher than most of the others.

Overall: "This is more memorable than my wedding" said one of the tasters. For the protection of his marriage, not going to mention who said that. This is really nice. A real highlight of a night full of highlight-worthy beers.

Very excited to finally crack this one open and enjoy. My first Father's Day / Birthday weekend beer, 30th birthday. Bomber poured into snifter. Bottled 12/10/11, #1050, consumed Friday the 13th, June 2014.

A: Pours pitch black with slightly under 1 finger of thin tan colored head that reduces slowly and leaves no lacing. True to all BCBS beers that I've ever had.
S: I expected some berries, but I can not believe how dominant the fruits held up after 2.5 years bottled. Berry aroma up front, and dominant all around. I get a little bit of chocolate buried deep under the depths of fruit.
T: Follows suit with aroma - the berry flavor is dominant. It's similar to eating a chocolate covered raspberry. So much fruitiness followed by a lingering sweet dark chocolate flavor.
M: Thick, smooth, carbed fairly low as expected. It had a rich feeling for after taste, very unique.
O: The most impressive part of this beer for me is just how strong the adjuncts held up. Comparing it to Backyard, I think this is more balanced, even considering it's very fruity. Enjoyed Bramble all the way through, it's up there with the top BCBS variants in my book.

t - Tastes of blackberries, dark fruits, roasted malts, bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, cream, caramel, and otasted malts. Taste has more berry than the nose, but still nowhere near Backyard's amount.

m - Full body and low carbonation. Thick and chewy and not too hot. Great mouthfeel.

o - Overall I did not think this was as good as Backyard Rye, but it is still good. Much less fruit at this point which makes it closer to the normal BCS version, but that isn't a bad thing. A good beer but wouldn't give up the house to get it.

Thick oily pour was burnt black with a trace of deep brown foam that was quickly subsumed by the evil looking viscous liquid. Smells of raspberries and dark chocolate with a trace of molasses and vanilla. Skipping the taste for a moment, the first sip.. This is a cement mixer thick liquid. Wow it's creamy and just the bare minimum of carbonation. Can I have a gallon of water on the side? Excellent excellent. But an excellent mouthfeel is a standard for BCBS. Now the taste. It's fantastic and something completely different..I get the BCBS underpinnings of malt chocolate, figs, molasses and bourbon but wow even 3+ years of aging.. Hello the raspberries! Blackberries! They are lightly sweet and tart and add a really nice complexity to the chocolate, vanilla, figs and molasses. Finish is dark chocolate and light tartness of the berries. Although there's nary a burn from the stated 12.7% ABV, this whale is a sipper.

This one was rather interesting. It was basically BCBS with a dark fruity flavour, mostly blackberries, that came in the heaviest at the end, leaving a subtle sweet aftertaste that complemented the malt chocolate sweetness that is a BCBS hallmark. There was a very subtle spiciness throughout as well. Mouthfeel was excellent, obviously as this is a BCBS brew, but while it was very creamy and smooth, it fell just a bit short of Coffee and Rare. At this point, I think Bramble may get a little bit better with a few more months on it. Very interesting and certainly delicious BCBS variant.

Re-review today, 2/22/2014. #4 in the BCBS Variant lineup. Poured into an original Bourbon County Brand Stout snifter. I cannot get over how fruit-forward Bramble is drinking right now despite being almost two and a half years old by today. Incredible notes of sweet raspberry and tart blackberries dominating the beer. Unfortunately it does cover up what makes Bourbon County Brand Stout what it is- while there is a nice dark chocolate, spicy rye whiskey and barrel flavours- the fruit is still so forward that while it makes for an unique Bourbon County experience, it's just not as complex as the other variants. I really really enjoyed the fruit forwardness of this beer, but I'm a guy who loves fruit lambics so take that for what its worth. A recommendation is try to drink it more as it warms up but not completely- the beer kind of falls off at room temperature compared to Backyard Rye, which we had side-by-side. Backyard retains its fruity jamminess at all temperatures and is ready to drink right now. Bramble is also damn well ready to drink, but I promise you, it will be a significantly different experience than drinking Backyard Rye.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color ale with a nice dark brown foamy head with good retention. Aroma of raspberry jam with light roasted malt with quite a bit more residual sugar than I was expecting. Taste is a wonderful mix between a sweet imperial stout based with light roasted malt notes and some raspberry and blackberry jam. All the flavours mix in very well and nothing was off-balance. Body is full with light creamy texture and medium carbonation with no apparent alcohol. Very enjoyable with barrel notes not as discernible as in the regular version.